Means for slidingly supporting folding doors



APPLICATION FILED APR. 21, I9I9.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920. I

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

E. J. G. PHILLIPS.

MEANS FOR SLIDINGLY.SUPPORTING FOLDING DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.21. 19x9.

1,357,299 Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

2 SHEET$-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATE-S PATENT OFFICE.

Ennis J.'.G. rHILLrPs, or IIURORK, ILLINOiS, nssrcmon. '10 nIcHAnns-wmcox numu- I rac'romnecomranr, or AURORA, ILLINOIS, a'conroim'rron' or ILLINOIS;

mmms'ron smnmenv surro'n'rnve FOLDING noons.

To all whom it may conem-.'

Be it known that I, En'LI'sJ. G. Pn-lnmrs,

"a citizen of the United States, and a resi- -l'dentof Aurora, in the county of Kaneand is "an improvement nponthe construction tion;'

' described a means .1ty I of door sections connected with the patented construction I isfa'ctory,[but' its efiectiveness is limitedto of furnishing a closure ways and at-the same.

State" of Illinois, have invented certain new useful Improvements in Means for S lidingly Supportingwhichthe following-is a specification, r'eferv Y ence being ha Folding- Doors, of

to the accompanying drawings, f.

This invention relates to'improved means for slidingly supporting folding doors, and.

shown and described in Letters'Patent No. 1,160,198, dated November 1-6, 1915, granted upon my 'application; In that patent was one of the; said sections support such as the side member of a doorway frame.

piy otso asto be movable toward and from the doorway, in which track was movable a wheeled carriage that was connected by. a

swiveling pendent wlth that door section I farthest removed from the section hingedly fixed support. Such has provenvery sat-- doorways of lesswidth than is noWir equently. met with,-and it is with the object for very wide doorvery desirable featureof having the various door sections or. members hingedly united. edge to edgethat the present. im-v proved 'constructlon'has been dev1sed.-

In carrying'out my. invention I employ I memben that two overhead tracks arranged parallel with each other and supported from 'adjustable bracket means, in one of which tracks runs ,a wheeled carnage orhanger suitably co n- .nected by a swiveling pendent with one of Specification of Letters iatent: Patented for supporting. a'pluralhinged together and being hinged to a;

That construction employed I an adjustable track movable on a vertical position;

time preserving the Nov. 2, 1920 Application filed 4 m 2;, 1919. Seri'al No. 291,647

In the .drawings,-'-

Figure 1 is an inside view of the upper part of two sets of doors. supported from two sets of inclined tracks,eachset of said.

doors as here shown consistingof four sections h nged together and adapted to close one-half'of a doorway;

Fig. '2 is I throughon'e of the sets of doors, the section an enlarged 1/ sectional view.

being taken at line 22 of Fig. .1, and the view showing in dotted lines the doors when m partly-opened position and showing them also in dotted lines in "fully-opened posi- Fig. 3 is a perspective view of theupper. part of the set of four door sections and their tracks that are shown at-the left-hand side of Fig.1, the view being ofthe inside facesof thedoors as in said 1, and showingin .dotteddines. the position of the door sections'when moved into fully-opened Fig 4 of the longsupporting arms from: which the two parallel tracks are adjustably supported;

jFig'. 51st; side de eanor the arm of I I I II '75 's a detall, b elng a top view of one Fig. 1 and showing in end elevation. the means by which the two parallel tracks'are adjustably connected with and supported from said arm, the said tracks being-1n vertical cross-section;

. Figs. (y- 7 are views similar to Figs-4 5,

'respect-ively, but showing the shorterinter med1ate"sup'porting arms "for the-longer track member only; Y

Fig-8 is a detail,: being an elevationof ployed'to hold that end of the long track center of the doorway,

- section and a portlon of the building wall construction that w1ll permit the doors to y be turned farther back so as to be substan-g.

9'0 the door-supporting means that are emcomes substantially over'lthe I a portion of the'doo'rz i 9 is a. detailpartly in horizontal s'ectially entirely out of the doorway when in I to the several figures of the "completely-opened position. i 'Referring drawings, m which corresponding parts are indicated by like J reference characters,-10, 11,' 12 and 13 'indicate'four door sections "hinges being arranged on opposite sides of the door sections soas to permit a folding of the doors, one upon the other, in the manner clearly indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. The door section -10 is the one at the ex treme side of the doorway, and it is secured,

, Figs, A tof8, inclusive. ,Referring to these devices, 22 indicates a comparatively long by hinges, one ofwhich is shown .atl5, to the vertical memberor jamb 16 of. the doorway. The door sections referred to. are

shown as closing one-half of-the doorway, and the other half will .be closed by ,four

' other similar doors, similar in all respects.

These-last-na'med doors and the parts connected therewith are indicated by the same reference characters, with the addition thereto of the letter a, and inasmuch as the construction and arrangement of the doors and all of the parts connected or co-aeting therewith are the same for one side of the doorway as 'for the other, the detailed de-.

scription will be given only in connection with the set of sections numbered from 10 to 13, and such set will be found illustrated in Figs. 2 to 9. .17 indicateslocking devices of any approved type, mounted on the inner faces of some of the door sections andadapt;

edto cause the projection of locking bolts into upper and lower sockets, as usual. a

' desired openings the tracks may be held at l'819 indicate two sections 'of track se-v cured, against the face of the building wall in which is the doorway guarded by the doors referred to, such track sections'being,

of course, located above the plane of the upper edge of the doorway Each of the track sections may be of any well .i nqw led, to the front wall of the brackets -26"27, respectively, and held against the under face construction, and, as shown, each consists of a strip of sheet metal bent to form a top portion, two parallel sides, and intui'ned. lower portions that form rails upon which the wheelsof the carriage or hanger run,-

the pendent depending from each hanger or I carriage through the slot between the rails,

asusual. In'Fig. 8 is shown such a hanger or carriage, the samebeing indicated 29, and the pendent that depends therefrom 1s v indicated by 21.

As clearly shown in the drawings, the-- track member 18. is substantially twice as long as the track member 19, such length of the member 1 8 being substantially equ al to the combined width of the door. sections 1011"-12'l3, whereas the length ofthe track member l9 equals substantially the,

way stand ata considerable distance away y from the doorway, while theirother ends lie close tothe wall in which the doorway is 'formed' For convenience, the'ends of-the track members near the side of the doorarm extending horizontally over the two track members 18-19, and having a turned end portion 23 adaptedtolie' against and be secured by bolts to the wall-in whichthe .doorway is formed. In the construction shown, two'of these arms' 22 are employed,

one near the outerendof the track members, and 'one at a point su stan'tiallyymidway betweenthe ends of the short track member 19, asclearlyshown in Fig. 3. Each arm 22 is adapted to have connected with it means for suspending the 'two' track members, which means, in the construction shown,

ably hold the track meinbers-18-19, respec- ;-tively. Eachof the bolts 2425 passesthrough one of a series of holes in the arm 22, and by passingthesebolts.through the any desired distancefrom the wall. As

' comprise comparatively long bolts 2425 'that, carry, respectively, track brackets 26 27 which are shaped to receive and suitshown, each'bolt 24.25 is provided with a nut above and below the arm, whereby by p the adjustment of the nuts the tracks heldqbyfsuch'bolts may be secured rigidly in position. 2829 indicate angular braces boltofthe arm, 22 by the set nutscarried by the bolts 24-25, respectively, -Each arm 22 is additionally supported by a rod' 30 depend ingfrom any suitable overhead support, the 'rod' being screw-threaded at its lower end and passing through an opening in th'e'erid of the arm-nuts being screwed-upon such end and bearing against the upper and :lower' faces of said arm, best shown in Fig. 5. 31 indicates anotherjangular arm secure'rl'to the building will as are the arms- 22, and extending over the inner-end ofthe short traclcmember 19, and carrying anextends'a bolt 33, from which support is given to a'bracket 34 that is similar to the other arm 32, through an opening in which brackets 26- -27, and which supports the central portion of the track member 18, the

.I-bOlt 33 being securedin place by nuts as are the bolts 24-25. The outer end of the arm I is turned down, as at 35, to lie alongside of the-outer face of the bracket 34, to which it is bolted. As shown in Fig. '6, the arms 31- 32 are adjustable relative to each other by reason of the belt that secures themtogether passing through a slot In addition to the supporting means just described that extends over thefshorter track member and supports the central portion of the long track member, I provide another'support of I the same construction, as seen in. Fig. 3,

which is located substantially midwaybe p to provide means for effectively supporting.

. tween the inner end of the short track member and the inner end of the long track member. The inner end ot each "of the track members is supported by means of an angular I building, and having bolted to its horizontal-portion a track bracket 38,-see'Fig. 8, which shows the supporting means for the inner end of the long track; member 18.,

39 indicates a hanger arm, one being bolted to the face of the doorlsection 11 and one to the face of the door section 13, and

the same being secured respectively to the pendents 21 ofthe-hangers or carriages thatf travel in the respective tracks 18-.-.l9,-fth6 attachment in each instance being; of a character to permit of a swiveling action of such brackets and tracks the pendent with respect to its connecting member 39. I

It will be understood that by properly loosening the nuts on the various bolts, from which the several track brackets are suspended, such brackets can be'turned to'adapt themselves to the required inclination of the tracks,-and thereafter be ti htened to hold firmly in place. The desired inward and outward adjustment of the track brackets is permitted, of course,

. comparatively long brackets 22 and the slots '1 shown,

by reason-of the provision of the holes in the in the bracket members 32, and while I have as stated, the holes in one set of brackets and the slb'ts 36' in the other set of brackets, it will be understood that slots may be employed where holes'are now shown, and vice versa. r

It is sometimes desirable that the door sections, when folded together, shall bethrown back so as to leave the doorway unat' the side of a doorway to receive the folded-together portions, I contemplate, as a modification of the construction described, extending the inner ends of the track members some little distance beyond the side of the doorway, as shown in ig. 9. In said figure,- the edge of the door opening is indicated bye, and it will'be' noted that the two track members are extended some little-distance beyond such point, and the. supporting means forsuch projected ends of the track are arranged correspondingly at one side of the doorway instead ofvjust at the edge of the doorway, as in the other figures. Such arrangement of the parts permits, as will be .seen by Fig. 9, the turning of the foldedtogether doors back so as to be practically wholly out of the doorway and approxibracket 37 bolted to the wall of the mately parallel with'the wall in which. the doorwayv ismade. As the parts themselves are the same in all respects, except as to length of tracks, as in the other figures, they l bear the same "reference numerals- By myimprovedgconstruction I am able closed position aseffectively .as when but two sections were employed, as in my said .forrner construction. This is of very-great advantagein view of the fact that in many situations-very wide doorways are desired and it is desirable toclose the same by-slid-.

.in'g doors that when opened will occupy the minimum amount of space. By my mproved construction- I' am able to hang four them as readily to one side of the doorway door sections connected together,.and move as was formerly possible with two such door sections, because by' the use of the two parallel track members 18-5-19 the weight of the door sections is dividedbetween such track members, whereas if only a single track member-wereemployed, as in said former construction, the weight of so many door sections of the same size would-tend'to impose too great a strain upon the hinges that connect the door sections as well as upon the supporting means. It will be seen, v

therefore, that by the construction herein described I am 'able to connect up and-operate as a single unit the same number and weight of door sections thatheretofore has generally had to be divided into two such units.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1.,- The combination of two inclined parallel tracks, a series of doors hingedly connected together, a fixedsuppo'rt to which one. of said doors is hinged, two hangers movably mounted on said tracks, respectively, and connections between said hangers. and two of said doors for movably supporting said series of doors from said tracks.

2. The combination of a series of doors hingedly connected together, a fixed sup port towhich one of the end doors of said series is hingedly connected, a hanger connected to the other one of the end doors of said series, a second hanger connected to an intermediate door of said series, and two tracks upon which said hangers are movably .mounted respectively for supporting said series of doors.

' 3. The combination of two tracks of difing one end of each track adjacent to the upper edge of a doorway, said endsbeingat different distances from one side of the doorway and the other ends being adjacent to .ferent lengths, means for pivotally secursaid side, adjustable means for holding said tracks parallel with each other and inclined away from the doorway, a series of doors hingedly connected together, and two hangers movably mounted on said tracks, respectively, said hangers being connected to difiere nt doors of said series.

4. The combination of a series of doors ,hingedly connected together, a. fixed support to which one of the end doors of said series is hingedly connected, a bracket adacent to said fixed support,.two tracks havsaid series, a third bracketsupporting'the;

opposite end portion of the other track adjacent to the edge of another of said doors,

and two-hangers connected with two of said doors respectively and movable along sald tracks for supportingsaid series of doors.

ELLIS J, G. PHILLIPS. 

